Flat racing's outer facade in this country looked well polished this week led by the news of the prize money levels for the showcase events at York returning to their attractive pre Covid levels, something which may have surprised many.
This is a development that will ensure short term support from connections operating at the highest level as no matter how much prestige certain events carry, that element alone will not sustain the quality of these contests for an indefinite period.
It is hard not to conclude that the whole show seems to be steering towards a downsized racing model with an emphasis on retaining quality, for away from the dizzy levels at the top, the sport is in a tatty mess when compared to the other major sports that in the main survive and thrive, holding their major category status.
Think of once successful TV stars, singers or bands, who fall out of fashion and end up being thankful for a bit part to the new flavor of the day, or supporting the main show on tour. Bob Grant, alias the cheeky, teethy Jack in On The Buses, ended up committing suicide after finding himself unemployable, unable to shake off the stereotyped character that made him popular in households up and down the country.
In fact, it's probably only those of us old enough to have seen that popular series in real time who are able to understand just how far racing has fallen from a top tier sport, when both the BBC and ITV, covered the Epsom Derby, and when you'd switch on the telly and would frequently find yourself watching a comedy series or film where someone such as Sid James would be reading the Sporting Life.
When we are told that a certain industry or sport is ' evolving ', it really means that it has had to change its gameface for financial purposes. Football does it regularly, cricket too, golf in a more subtle way, and racing has lately been unearthing proposals to copy ideas from these other sports.
We have this team competition nonsense on its way shortly - something developed by air heads in the hope of pulling in masses of new air heads to the sport. Those who have devised this idea may have a general sharpened awareness of the world of business, but racing is so unique that anyone a bit too cute who believes they are able to step in and play a hand in turning such an idea that is the antithesis of the sport into a success, is going to be in for a shock.
It's equally surprising that this trash has been supported by some prominent licence holders who may be able to boast of working with thoroughbreds daily for most of their lives and understanding the nuances of these great animals, but have less understanding on what attracts punters to the sport than the said punters have of healing quarter cracks.
The problem of having influential figures with no appreciation of why a punter may use more of his betting booty for a football or cricket match, a golf, tennis, snooker or darts tournament, or a Grand Prix, than on horse racing, is nothing new. In fact, where we are now with racing being overtaken by football as betting subject for the under 40's, all stems from the taking for granted of horse race punters many years back and not being able to foresee the threat which would emerge from the sports betting boom in the 1990's.
Admittedly, there are going to be some bizarre developments in the gimmicky new cricket competition about to be introduced, but here is a sport that has been able add some razzmatazz while retaining general public appreciation of the traditional model. And at the end of the day, the audience are watching what is playing out on the field infront of them. No one will take with any degree of seriousness this random team concept in racing - the traditionalists will shun it, the party crowd will drink and spend, oblivious to it all, and if they have a bet on the day they'll return to betting on alternative sports once they leave the racecourse.
There is a serious possibility that when the true financial long term impact of the plague hits and the furlough stops, racing will be left with a programme so drastically downsized that it will result in two thirds of those involved with the sport losing their jobs. Gone will be the present day trend of stallions covering three figure books. There will be less animals passing through the chain with the sales catalogues becoming thinner. The present model cannot be sustained.
And for those believing there is a way out should consider that the lifeblood of punters money, without which the sport could not be maintained in the UK at its present level, is not only being cut off through indifference to the sport from the emerging generations, but also from the impending affordability checks carried out by those who are forcibly self harming their own business by conducting their checks.
They talk of the moral compass changing but no thought is given to proportionality along with the fact that we don't live for an extraordinary long time. No doubt those who champion this interference have their minds wired up in a certain way, on the very same wavelength as those who support all the other daft, everyday intrusions into our lives.
You may even be doing yourself some good by exercising on a treadmill, listening to music bought to keep from i tunes, then suddenly having the volume lowered accompanied by a message that it may cause permanent damage to your hearing. No doubt this 'we know what's best for you' action is taken by those who would like you to refrain from all the activities which don't meet with their approval.
And if you wish to advocate the glass full empty approach, add in this worrying prediction about the increase in people taking up a vegan diet, then ask yourself have you ever met a vegan who had anything nice to say about horse racing.
The flat racing model left will be a concentration of the most wealthy owners and fashionable trainers, the owners paying a higher percentage in than ever before to cover for the shortfall in punters contributions and a linked decrease in bookmakers sponsorship.
image used under fair use policy
By ill advisedly going ahead with this coming team competition to do a 'cover version' of other sports, horse racing will be fair game for ridicule. And more deservedly so than when this household name in Germany did a 'cover' of a gimmicky song that had been a surprise success in the UK charts during the middle of the 1978/79 jumping season.
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